Chapter 3

Upon Panther Cap's return, he was told the whole story of how three of them fell into the crevasse and how Shaggy Mane jumped in to grab the twins. Shaggy Mane got a scolding for that from Elf Cup, but he didn't really care much.

However, Fur Foot and Puff Ball felt pretty bad about the whole scenario. They refused to say anything about it, but Fur Foot was the one acting more strangely. It was typical of Puff Ball to worry about things, but Fur Foot was usually the determined one, ready for action. That day he seemed gloomy, unsure of himself.

But what nearly set Fur Foot over the edge (not of the crevasse) was what Panther Cap said. "I need to go out into the woods."

"What? Why?" asked Beauty Stem.

Puff Ball looked annoyed. "What are you talking about, Panther Cap?"

"I was told I need to go see a tree. And I need to bring you guys."

"Panther Cap," said Fur Foot. "We just had to deal with three toadlets falling into the crevasse. We're fine right here."

"No, we're not." said Panther Cap.

"Who told you about the tree?" said Beauty Stem.

Panther Cap was silent for a minute. "I don't know."

"Great..." said Puff Ball.

"What did he look like?" said Beauty Stem.

"I didn't see him."

"Where is this tree?" said Fur Foot.

"Where ever the voice came from I guess. It's coming from over there!" Panther Cap pointed out into the woods.

"Panther Cap," said Fur Foot. "We can't just walk unto the blue! It's too dangerous for anyone of us. None of us have ever been there. Well, Except for that time Slippery Jack got lost, but that hardly qualifies."

"But..." whispered Panther Cap.

Beauty Stem walked in between then and said, "Everyone. I know we've been having a crazy day. Maybe we all need to just rest for a while."

That sounded like a good idea to everyone. Since Panther Cap couldn't convince them he had to go see the tree, he went somewhere he could be alone and play with a rock. But Slippery Jack followed him.

"Panther Cap!"

"Hi, Jack."

"Trust me, Panther Cap. Trust me when I say the forest is a horrible place to be." Slippery Jack grabbed a hold of his own head out of fear. "It's a really scary place."

Panther Cap slowly turned his head to Slippery Jack, who was overcome with fear. "You weren't even there long enough to see any monsters. None us us were. Some of us never entered there."

"Exactly! The forest itself is scary enough!" Slippery Jack was frantically waving his arms.

"Or maybe when we get past the scary parts, we'll be at a place safer than this."

"But, Panther Cap! We've never seen another toad! How do we know any other toads are still alive in this forest!?" While Slippery Jack was panicking, Fur Foot heard the conversation and started to eavesdrop, hoping to find some insight on Panther Cap's desire to go out into the woods. Panther Cap indeed had been... thinking more often that day.

"Don't say that." said Panther Cap. "I know Mom is still alive."

Slippery Jack froze for a moment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"Of course you didn't." said Panther Cap. "None of us have been ourselves today, and I know why. We've all been looking at ourselves the same way, staring at our own bodies."

Fur Foot realized he had been looking at himself a lot, just staring down at his torso, his legs, his arms.

"And that's because of that feeling we all have, right?" continued Panther Cap. "That strange feeling that's been going through our whole body, and we've been trying to ignore it. A feeling like our friends our tickling us but no one's laughing."

A tingling sensation. Slippery Jack had felt it that day, and Fur Foot knew he was feeling it all day.

"That feeling that we get? It's a nervous feeling, and a warning. I think that's because we aren't really sure of where anywhere else and any other time can bring us in the future, that we're not positive what the future has. The feeling isn't really fun or annoying, yet at the same time we've been ignoring it because we have to do that one thing we may have never done before, something that we have to do know because, since we can all sense it, it's natural for us toads to do it. It's nature, isn't it? And the tree may be our chance to do it, and the voice knew it. The voice was telling us about the toad nature we thought we could avoid without anything bad happening."

Fur Foot wasn't sure how Panther Cap could've been the one to determine this, since he never thought so much before in his life.

"But we can't avoid it. It's in our bodies. Not the feeling, but nature itself. It's everywhere. And we'll feel this way for the rest of our lives if we ignore it."

And Fur Foot just awaited the answer to determine their fears...

"We need to move away from Goop Haven."